Difference of Religions

For 11 years now I’ve been a Buddhist. I try to follow Buddhist philosophy as best as I can. I try to be calm and respectful of others. I try to be accepting of everyone no matter what. One day I was on a trip with a colleague and the subject of religion came up. I know, I know you, you should never talk about religion at work, but it was after hours and we were eating dinner. This colleague was curious about Buddhism. So I gave him the basics. I then told him that as a Buddhist I’m not supposed to judge other people for their religion and be tolerant of it. I said flippantly, “We don’t believe in telling people they are going to hell.” That’s when my colleague said to me, “I believe you are going to hell, what do you think about that?” I was caught off guard. He explained to me that he was home schooled in a very religious home and that according to his beliefs I was going to go to hell. I thought about it for a minute and said, “Well I believe in Buddhism we are taught to be tolerant of other religions, so it is a test of my faith to be tolerant of your beliefs.” I then went on to say, “It’s your religion to tell me that I’m going to hell and to try to convert me. It’s a win-win for both of us.” He laughed at that, and we both dropped the subject of religion. It was a very friendly conversation after that and from that point on we understood each other in a way that we never would have before without that conversation. All this to say is we all have different beliefs. We still need to be tolerant of one another.